Antitrust not to punish Rosneft for suspended sales of fuel

MOSCOW, Dec 6 (PRIME) -- The Federal Antimonopoly Service will not punish Russian oil major Rosneft for suspension of exchange sales of fuel as it sees no legal fault in the move, the serviceТs Director Igor Artemyev told reporters on Thursday.

УThere is no legal fault in that, as the order (of the service to sell specific volumes of fuel through an exchange) is only a recommendation, and secondly, they really pointed to several serious imperfections of the exchange trade,Ф Artemyev said.

УThe thing here is that there is a legal side and a practical side. Our order is a recommendation, it suggests that exchange trade should be conducted daily, but it does not oblige to do it, as it is illegal. Why shouldnТt we hear a company when they come out and say that rules of the exchange trade are obsolete and swindlers make money on our own resources while we have to maintain prices?Ф he said.

On November 15, participants of the SPIMEX said that Rosneft suspended sales of gasoline and diesel fuel.

The company resumed targeted sales of fuel to buyers on November 19, and later blamed commodity traders for the suspension, saying that they create conditions for non-market ways to form prices, and that a non-transparent structure of some of commodity exchange deals allows unscrupulous market players to benefit from the additional obligations of vertically-integrated companies.